Reviews, presenting a well-rounded analysis of Lithuania's economy and financial system as well as the activities of various market participants, and macroeconomic projections drawn up by the Bank of Lithuania.

Laws of the Republic of Lithuania, Resolutions of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania, other legal acts regulating the activities of the Bank of Lithuania, as well as international and inter-institutional agreements.

Positions, guidelines, opinions and explanations of the Bank of Lithuania, decisions thereof on the application of EU guidelines, all of which are relevant for the supervised financial market participants.

CENTROlink

The Central Bank of Lithuania (hereinafter - the Bank of Lithuania) provides technical access for all payment service providers, enabling them to send and receive SEPA payments.

CENTROlink is a payment system operated by the Bank of Lithuania, providing the gateway to the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). Via its infrastructure, the Bank of Lithuania provides technical access to SEPA for all types of payment service providers – banks, credit unions, e-money or payment institutions – licensed in the European Economic Area (EEA).

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I. Benefits of participating in the system

Level playing field. From a technological standpoint, non-bank institutions are given the possibility to make payments under the same terms as banks or credit unions.

Zero credit risk. Payments are made via an account held at the central bank.

IBAN and SWIFT BIC codes. The Bank of Lithuania assigns a unique 5-digit financial institution code to the payment service provider. The code is used to generate unique IBAN account numbers for the payment service provider itself and its clients. A licensed payment service provider that has established a legal entity in Lithuania receives a SWIFT BIC code with a Lithuanian country code, which allows global identification of the financial institution. Within the system, payment service providers licensed in other countries may use SWIFT BIC and IBAN codes issued in their home countries.

Access to European payment systems. CENTROlink is connected to STEP2 and RT1 European payment infrastructures. It is foreseen to connect to the Eurosystem’s TIPS to increase pan-European reachability of instant payments. The payment service provider who has a single access point to CENTROlink benefits from all system connections without any additional investments.

SEPA service package. This is the only system in the region that offers a full range of SEPA services: credit transfers (SCT), direct debit (SDD), and instant payments (SCT Inst).

Dual infrastructure. The system has a dual infrastructure that ensures business continuity of the system.

Flexible connectivity option. The system also offers flexible and secured internet access to payment service providers.

Convenient pricing. The Bank of Lithuania applies fees for transactions only. There are no fixed fees.

Speed. Average time of integration with CENTROlink does not exceed 3 months.

Favourable conditions. Licencing and supervision conditions offered by the Bank of Lithuania are among the best in the European Economic Area. More information is available here.

II. About CENTROlink

CENTROlink is a payment system, developed and operated by the Bank of Lithuania, which allows customers of financial institutions to execute euro payments across SEPA. CENTROlink was launched on 8 December 2015, while it's roots come from the start of 2004 as a local currency payment system. CENTROlink participants can offer their clients SEPA credit payments (SCT), direct debit (SDD) and instant payments (SCT Inst). More information on how CENTROlink operates, acceptance of system participants, their rights and obligations, payment orders processing procedure as well as risk management is available in the Rules of Operation of CENTROlink (782.8 KB ).